The Man in The Shed

The Man in The Shed 31 st August – Missing again It wasn’t a great start to the season for me. Missing in action against Leicester and away again for Sheffield United. OK, so I did have the compensation of a weekend in Bilbao but I wouldn’t be able to see a live game now until Liverpool. Watching on recorded TV on my return I loved the pre-game flags. The other “revolution” at Chelsea over the last year or two has been the gradual return of former players in a variety of roles. Although Lampard has had most of the column inches the Chelsea fans will have noted Cudicini back helping our Italian managers, Eddie Newton, Morris and Cech plus both Ashley and Joe Cole working with the younger lads. I thought they had brought back Makelele to sort out Bakayoko as he had done at Monaco, but perhaps that is beyond anyone. Credit to our opponents. I don’t believe that the bookies expected them to get automatic promotion last season. And to do it with an English manager. ...

The Man in The Shed 24 th August – Young guns Sitting down on a Saturday lunchtime, nice sunny day, I had to feel optimistic as I tuned into BT Sport. Norwich had certainly taken the Championship by storm last season and despite taking a hammering at Anfield they were being applauded for their style of play. And Pukki was their new hero – proving that Championship strikers really can make an impact in the top flight. Our teamsheet showed a last minute change with Pedro feeling a hamstring in the warm-up and being replaced by Barkley. A perfect start – Abraham scoring within five minutes ! I’d barely composed myself and we’d conceded ! Where was our midfield ? Barkley was still struggling to realise that he was actually playing and not warming the bench. A very open game and after 15 minutes we’re ahead again. Mount proving that he really has what it takes in this league. I for one and everyone else, including the commentators, were convinced that there...

The Man in The Shed © Alamy 18 th August – The homecoming SKY’s decision to move our game to Sunday meant that I would have to miss the big homecoming. I was absolutely gutted. The vitriol thrown at a young centre forward with the guts to step up and take a key penalty was insane to me. The archaic values of some people are beyond words. As Frank said – we’ve all missed them. The real fans made sure that Abraham felt loved. My biggest fear was both the mental and physical impact of the last game. A hundred and twenty minutes in the heat whilst Leicester had their feet up watching on the box. I had to admit that when weighing up the prospects of each team in the Premier league this season I saw the likes of Leicester, Wolves and Everton as real rivals for the top six. Well the highlights don’t always tell the real story but the energy of our first half display was a delight to watch. And the joy of seeing young Mason Mount scoring his first seni...

The Man in The Shed 14 th August – The woman is in charge I’d been stewing for a few days after the last game – partly because the result still felt harsh but equally because it seemed that Jose had put the boot in with his “pundit comments” afterwards. It just seemed to back up his whole approach (or lack of) towards younger players. The team selection for the Super Cup seemed quite cautious from Frank (although we maintained the same back four). Or maybe it was just recognition of Giroud’s performances in Europe that got him the nod up front. Somehow Kanté was deemed fit enough to play too. Much of the pre match column inches had been focussed on the fact that the referee was a woman. She seemed well qualified so whilst my loyalties were focussed on a Chelsea win I also hoped that the referee had a good game as well. The game started fairly evenly.   Salah had a early chance but Pedro seemed to be the main Chelsea threat in the first 20 (including hi...